Macbeth's ambition also blinds him to the faults in his own thinking and the long-term consequences of his actions. In these two ways, his ambition causes him to behave in a way that would have been ruinous to him even if all his plans had gone as well as possible.
Macbeth both believes and disbelieves the prophecies of the witches. If the prediction that he will become King of Scotland is true, it should be true regardless of what he does; if it is not true, it is worthless. He recognizes this,
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me
Without my stir. (I, iii)
but the driving force of his ambition will not allow him to trust in it. Had he done so, the witches' temptation would have failed, whether or not he had become king.
Macbeth's ambition leads him to the further absurdity of half-believing the witches' words. At the same time Macbeth was told he would be king, Banquo was told his descendants would be kings. Macbeth tries to defeat the second part of the prophecy with Banquo's murder, forgetting that if one part of it is untrue, the other is also in doubt.
Ambition also causes Macbeth to be consciously short-sighted. As a Christian of that era, he believes that murder and traffic with the Devil will eternally damn him. Nevertheless, he proceeds with his plans, deluded into valuing a few years as King of Scotland more than the eternity of his afterlife:
....here, upon this bank and shoal of time,--
We'd jump the life to come. (I, vii)
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